Champions League Group Stages - Draw 2018

The Champions League draw for the group stages took place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on the Thursday night. Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham are this years English teams taking part and they have now found out who they will be facing in this years competition.

Tottenham have drawn in what is arguably the group of death. They will be fighting for a place in the last sixteen against Barcelona (ESP) Inter Milan (ITA) and PSV Eindhoven (NED). Mauricio Pochettino will be returning to Spain to resume the old rivalry with Barcelona. The former Argentine coach played for city rivals Espanyol and managed them for three years until September 2012. The Lilywhites beat Inter Milan at White Hart Lane 3-1 back in November 2010. Club legend Gareth Bale scored a hat-trick when the sides met at the San Siro that campaign, although Spurs lost the game 4-3.

Last seasons runners up Liverpool are up against two European big boys. Ligue 1 winners Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) and Napoli (ITA) who finished second in Serie A last season. - The Reds will also face 1991 winners Red Star Belgrade of Serbia. Jurgen Kloops side is certainly one of the strongest squads in the competition and will be looking to do a repeat of the 2017/18 competition but this time win the final and lift the trophy. Liverpools last final win was in Istanbul 2005. Fellow rivals Manchester United drew against Italian giants and 2016 finalists Juventus which means a return to Old Trafford for Red Devils legend Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese machine won the big trophy with the then Premier League champions in 2008 against Chelsea in Moscow. Ronaldo found the net in the final which meant he had scored 42 goals in all competitions that season. Manchester United will also face Valencia (ESP) and Young Boys (SUI).

The current champions of England, Manchester City have been drawn in a fairly easy group with Lyon (FRA) Hoffenheim (GER) and Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR). City will meet Shakhtar Donetsk for the second successive time in the group stages. The pair were drawn in the same group in 2017/18. The Citizens beat the Ukrainians 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium but losing 2-1 in Donetsk back in December. Pep Guardiola's side will be hoping to bounce back after the disappointing exit in the quarter finals in the last campaign when they were knocked out by Liverpool. The 5-1 aggregate score denied Manchester City the chance of winning a treble. Pep has won the Champions League twice before with Barcelona and will be looking to end City's Champions League woes in 2018/19.

Draw results:

Group A: Atletico Madrid (ESP) Borussia Dortmund (GER) Monaco (FRA) Club Brugge (BEL)

Group B: Barcelona (ESP) Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) Inter Milan (ITA) PSV Eindhoven (NED)

Group C: Paris Saint-Germain (FRA) Napoli (ITA) Liverpool (ENG) Red Star Belgrade (SRB)

Group D: Lokomotiv Moscow (RUS) Porto (POR) Schalke (GER) Galatasaray (TUR)

Group E: Bayern Munich (GER) Benfica (POR) Ajax (NED) AEK Athen (GRE)

Group F: Manchester City (ENG) Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) Lyon (FRA) Hoffenheim (GER)

Group G: Real Madrid (ESP) Roma (ITA) CSKA Moscow (RUS) Plzen (CZE)

Group H: Juventus (ITA) Manchester United (ENG) Valencia (ESP) Young Boys (SUI)